


Memento Mori

by HappyLeech



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Crying, Death, Gen, No one's cussed me out in this fandom yet time to change that, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Permanent Character Death, Rating May Change, angst for the sake of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-16 15:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10574574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyLeech/pseuds/HappyLeech
Summary: Despite what Mercy may say, there comes a time when Heroes do indeed die





	1. Chapter 1

Overwatch, as a whole, was no stranger to death. In its prime, agents and soldiers died on battlefields, publicly announced or not. During the Omnic Crisis, there were times when Overwatch nearly ceased to exist if not for a well-timed shot or a hastily raised shield. Even in the new age of Overwatch, illegal but still going strong, the members knew death and knew it personally.

From Hana Song, 19 but a soldier, fighting against an impossible enemy, to Mei Ling Zhou, who went to sleep during a raging storm and awoke next to her dead co-workers, to Ana Amari, seasoned sniper and veteran of Overwatch, death was no stranger.

 

So when they got the call, Lena hysterical on the coms, accent thickening with tears to the point that Winston almost couldn't understand her, announcing a KIA… it shouldn't have hurt the way it did.

But no longer were they members of Overwatch of old, back when thousands of people moved day to day through the corridors of a watchpoint, and a death was sad to some, but not the entire organization. But things were different. There weren’t many active members now, only 20 who went on missions and spent time on base, and so everyone knew everyone. Names, favourite foods, relatives, and fears. And so, when the call came through and Athena announced a KIA, tears were falling before anyone knew who it was.

 

“Who was on the mission?!” Fareeha yelled as she approached the comms room, Ana fallowing behind, grim-faced. “Mama, do you know?”

Ana shook her head, listening through the glass door as Winston tried to calm Lena down. “Lena was transport, but I wasn’t there for the mission briefing. Who came back this morning?”

Before Fareeha could answer, Hana raced into the room, panting. “Who—do they know who yet?” she asked, and Ana shook her head. “It better not be Lúcio or Jamie…” she said, before slumping to the ground, leaning up against the glass wall. “I can't believe it…I didn't think this would—I just can't believe it.” She repeated. “It's like MEKA all over again.”

The next person to rush in was Mako, and it was obvious to everyone there already that he was panicking behind his mask, even as he tried to keep his cool. “Jamie? It’s not Jamie, is it?” he asked, and Hana shrugged.

“No—no idea who it is. Did he tell you who else was going on the mission?” she asked, quietly, but he only huffed, dropping to the ground beside Hana with a grunt.

“…if the idiot blew himself up, I don’t know what I’ll do,” he muttered before Hana curled up next to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Yeah…” she sniffed.

“Genji! Do you know who was on the mission?” Genji and Hanzo were next to run into the room, Genji’s vents hissing as he tried to hold onto his composure at Fareeha’s question.

“Master—Zenyatta was on it. He said they were going to look at some abandoned waypoints, I think. Nothing that would require any heavy firepower,” he replied, steam clouding around him instead of tears falling. Hanzo was silent, but there was no mistaking the unshed tears that filled his eyes, one hand gripping his brother’s arm. “They should have been _safe_.”

Reinhardt and Torbjörn arrived next, soon followed by Jesse, and all three of them moved to stand by Ana, Jesse with his eyes on the door.

“Soldier 76 was on the mission too—he was the firepower, he said,” Torbjörn hissed, eyes misty even if he and the masked man had never gotten along since he joined. “I don’t know why they didn’t send anyone else with them.”

Ana bowed her head, her heart hurting. None of the others knew that 76 and Jack Morrison were one in the same, and Ana hoped to hell and above that it wasn’t him coming home in a body bag. Reinhardt held open an arm, and she slid up next to him, trying to stay calm even as she felt him start to silently cry.

“Bastion and the Doc—Angela’s getting Medical ready for…for everyone,” Jesse said, starting to pace. “And Bastion’s in the garden still. I don’t think he wants to come, and I wasn’t going to make him.”

“Is it Satya? Or Mei?” The last person to crowd the hall was Zarya, clad in her workout clothing. “Mei told me they were going to look at old ecopoints—it isn’t either of them, is it?”

“We don’t—I don’t know,” Fareeha replied, biting her lip as she joined Jesse in pacing. “Winston’s trying to get Lena to talk to him, but—“

Before she could finish, the doors behind her opened, and everyone turned, faces naked with worry and panic.

“I—“ Winston looked at everyone, opening and shutting his mouth several times before admitting defeat and collapsing to sit on the ground like Hana and Mako. “It’s Zenyatta.”

 

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, broken only by Winston’s sobbing, before everyone erupted.

 

Genji surged forwards, only to be stopped by both Jesse and Hanzo before he could reach Winston. They both held him back until he seemed to slump in their grip, sending the three of them to the floor. In no time his visor was pulled from his face and tears started to fall as he screamed in Japanese, holding his brother’s arm in a bruising grip while Jesse took hold of his shoulders.

“O—oh my god…Zen? I—he’s gone?” Hana whispered, before she clambered to her feet, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating, Mako holding out a hand to keep her from falling as she listed to the side. “Athena, Winston was mistaken, right? It’s not Zenyatta, right? It can’t be him!” she yelled at the ceiling like she expected the AI would say something else.

“I…am sorry, Hana,” The AI replied, sounding for the world as though she would cry as well if she could. “According to Lena, he was killed in action.” The AI went silent as everyone, even Zarya, started to sob. Some keeled over like Hana, her head pressed to the floor, while others simply falling back against the wall, letting themselves slide down it, like Fareeha. “Winston…there’s more. I'm sorry, but Lúcio is trying to hail you.”

“I’ll take it,” Ana said, taking a deep breath in an attempt to steady herself, but failing. It wasn’t her first time someone she’d worked closely with had died on the field, but this time was different. The broken sobbing coming from Genji was proof enough of that.

 

She slipped into the comms room, pulling a chair over in front of the desk as she slipped on the headset, nausea rolling in her gut. “Amari here, Winston is—”

“We’re losing 76.” Lúcio interrupted, panic evident in his voice even through the static, and Ana’s heart shattered. “I—he went back to get Zen, and—“

“Athena, patch Lúcio through to Angela,” Ana whispered, leaving the nearly incoherent man to the more experienced medic, before she pushed back from the desk and slid off of the chair, sinking to her knees. Not again, she couldn't lose Jack again. But she trusted Lúcio to know what he was talking about, to know that 76, that Jack, was fading. Outside she could hear shouting, Genji still from the sounds of it, but the sounds were soon muffled as Reinhardt walked into the room, kneeling to pull her into his arms as she wept, shaking her head.

“What is it, Ana?” he asked, quiet for once, and she tried to explain, but found her mouth dry and lacking. “Athena?”

“Soldier 76 is dying,” the AI replied as Reinhardt helped Ana out of the comms room, leading her to Fareeha who reached up and out to her once she came within reach. “His survival rate is at 15% and dropping. I am sorry.”

“L—Lúcio said,” Ana gasped, knowing that she was about to make the others sob more, and hating herself, hating Jack, for it. “He said that 76 went to—went to help Zenyatta.”

If anything, Genji wailed even louder than before at that, and Ana began to shake as she slid down to sit nestled against her daughter.

“And I know who he is. 76, I mea—“ Ana cut herself off with a sob, pulling Fareeha into her lap and clutching at her like a lifeline. “I know who he is, and I wasn’t able to keep him safe again, and _he’s going to die_.”

“Ana?” Torbjörn knelt down by her, flesh hand hovering over her shoulder before he leaned into her. “Deep breaths, Ana.”

“It’s Jack, Torbjörn. 76 is Jack Morrison, and I wasn’t there—I couldn’t keep either of them safe!“ Ana hissed, feeling Fareeha and Torbjörn freeze, and hearing a temporary silence around her.  “Soldier 76 is Jack Morrison and this time he’s really going to die.”

“I—Ana, he died in the explosion,” Jesse said, voice thick with emotion, letting his hands fall from Genji’s shoulders as the younger man curled up against his brother. “I saw the funeral, everyone in the world saw the funeral. There’s no way—“

“Jack? Jack is 76? Since when?!” Torbjörn yelled, stumbling back. “Why didn’t he tell us?”

“Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t I send someone else with them? Oh, god,” Winston sobbed, digging his hands into his head, curling in on himself as if he could make his massive body shrink and disappear. “This is my fault…this is all my fault.”

 

Everyone started to speak and weep over each other, disbelief, anger, and sorrow intermingling into a mess that made Ana want to sink into the floor or wake up from what she wished was a dreadful nightmare.

 

“He’s been alive all this time, but he never told us?” Reinhardt said, his voice pushing past them all to fill the corridor. “You knew, Ana? All this time?”

She didn’t reply, instead tucking her face into the crook of Fareeha’s neck to cry. Let them be mad at her for keeping secrets later, but not now. Not when there were too many fresh wounds and broken hearts to navigate.

“Attention. ETA for Team A is T-minus 10 minutes,” a computerized voice echoed through the base, a deeper tone than Athena’s, and Winston sniffled.

“I need—someone please help me—I can’t go to the hanger myself. I just—I can’t” he said, wiping one large hand over his face, trying to wipe away the tears and failing. “Someone—“

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, they all went.

 

Ana let herself be half carried by Reinhardt and Fareeha, her legs too shaky for her to even contemplate walking from comms to the hanger on her own. Genji and Hanzo had raced ahead of them all, just to be there for Angela and because Genji still didn’t believe it was all true.

The rest followed at their own pace, Hana and Jesse moving faster that Ana, and Torbjörn and Zarya lingering behind a bit, long enough for Bastion to join them in their shell-shocked trudge to the hanger.

 

“They—gods, Ana, they lost him. His heart stopped, and they couldn’t get it started again,” Angela said when Ana entered the room from where she was crouched by Genji, keeping a hand on his shoulder, keeping him grounded. “He’s dead…they’re both—It’s going to be too late for me to even try!”

There was another shock of silence before Ana began to keen, falling to the floor and out of Fareeha and Reinhardt’s arms.

"Jack...I—“ Torbjörn shook, stumbling forwards a few steps to grab Ana. “Not again! Ana, this isn’t real, it can’t be.”

Ana continued to quake, biting down on her fist as she tried to desperately stop sobbing, but failing. Reinhardt crouched down, curling around her and Torbjörn as he too began to sob and curse.

“There’s really nothing you can do, doctor?” Zarya asked, letting herself sink down against a crate of something or other that was in the one bay. “There is no way to save either?”

Angela shook her head, her accent almost too thick to understand. “Soldier…Jack is too far. I don’t, I can’t bring him back. Zenyatta, I—I don’t know. I don’t know how dam—injured he is, or where.”

“Attention. ETA for Team A is T-minus 2 minutes.” The automated announcement sounded again, and everyone quieted, save for the crying, as they watched the sky.

 

Waiting for their collogues, and the corpses.


	2. Chapter 2

Angela and Fareeha had stretchers pushed up to the airplane before the engines were cut or the ramp lowered, fear in their hearts as they waited to see how the rest of the team faired. The others crowded around, those who could stand at least, arms around each other, holding close to whoever was nearby. Once the ramp finally lowered, the clanking noise louder than any of them had ever noticed before, everyone seemed to freeze as the rest of the returning team began to descend. None of them were prepared for that they were about to see.

Jamison was the first one down the ramp, limping more than usual, but he didn’t seem to care as he launched himself Mako, tears and snot covering his face as he hugged the other man. They both seemed to cave in on one another, the relief palpable. Mei stumbled down the ramp like she was half asleep, eyes not focusing on anything until she ran into Jesse, who helped her sit next to Zarya and passed her a handkerchief once she started to bawl. Lena bolted past them both once the large machine was fully shut off, and she raced down the ramp to crash into Winston, then Genji, pulling him and Hanzo into a four-way hug as she tried to apologize. 

The last four members of the team descended a lot slower than the others, and the sight made just about everyone start to wail if they weren't already crying.

Satya was the next one out of the plane, her fingers white-knuckled as she carefully guided a stretcher she’d made of hard-light down the ramp, Zenyatta laying in the middle.   
She was pale as a sheet, eyes wide and staring past everyone as she made her way to the bottom of the ramp, and only once Genji surged towards her did she seem to snap out of it.

“I—we tried,” she swallowed thickly, letting Angela take the stretcher from her, letting Hana guide her over to a box to sit on. “I couldn’t do…anything? Nothing…Nothing I did—“

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Hana replied, sounding just as distant as Satya, sinking down next to her. She knew that the minute she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t be able to stop the tears.

The body on the stretcher was almost unrecognizable as Zenyatta’s, hydraulic fluid and oil pooled under shards of metal, the cracked LED’s and his orbs the only things that marked him as more than a regular omnic. Angela tossed a sheet over his body, but she wasn’t fast enough to keep Genji from seeing the damage, and it took both Reinhardt and Jesse to pull him away from the stretcher and back to where Lena was folding in on Hanzo.

Lúcio descended as Satya reached the bottom of the ramp, shaking so much that Fareeha moved forwards, past all the grieving agents, to help him move the other stretcher. He had managed to find a spare t-shirt to cover the older soldier’s face, but there was no hiding who the man once was, nor the amount of blood that coated the younger man’s arms and body.

“Angela—he went to go help,” he tried to explain, so unsteady on his feet that once his hands left the stretcher, Lúcio all but collapsed against Zarya and Mei, trying to keep his breathing even and failing. “He bled out, Angie—“

Ignoring the blood, Zarya pulled him close, hugging him as he began to shake. 

Ana pulled herself to her feet, took one look at the barely concealed body, and promptly felt to the ground. Torbjörn followed, then Reinhardt, the older members of Overwatch folding around each other, trying to provide some form of comfort.

Without Reinhardt, Genji could make his way to the first stretcher, now suddenly almost cautious and timid as he reached out to touch the now-stained fabric. But it wasn’t long before he too was on the floor, the sheet nearly ripping in his grip as he silently screamed.

They all couldn’t have guessed how long they stayed in the loading bay, all of them grieving and crying, but it was Winston who made the first attempt to move.

“I—Doctor, can we—we need to move them, we need to go somewhere else,” he gasped, trying his best to gather his emotions and failing. “We need—“

“Yes,” Angela agreed, quietly resting her hand on his arm. “Go ahead, Winston. I’ll…I can move them…”

And so, slowly, everyone began to move. Zarya and Mei guiding Lúcio to his feet, all three of them unsteady and single-mindedly heading to a water source for the younger man. Mako stood, both Lena and Jamison in his arms as he started the slow and quiet walk to the largest common area in the Watchpoint. Jesse ended up guiding Hana and Satya to their feet as well, following after Mako, the only sound the quiet clinks from his spurs and the soft sobbing. 

Hanzo and Genji moved as one, the younger of the two sobbing into the elders neck, leaving bruising marks on Hanzo’s arm. Hanzo himself seemed to almost be in a daze, one or two of the previously unshed tears making their way down his face as they both stumbled down the hall, three of Zenyatta’s orbs in hand, seemingly unaffected by his brother’s grip. Ana couldn’t bring herself to move, and it took both Torbjörn and Reinhardt to get her steady before Fareeha simply picked her mother up, leaning heavily against her uncles as the four of them headed for a more comfortable place to grieve. 

Bastion beeped, somehow managing to convey his sorrow in a single tone once almost everyone was gone, and Angela sighed, falling backwards to lean on him as her tears finally started to fall. Winston made a motion to comfort her and help her move the bodies, but she waved him away as she continued to cry. 

“I—I will be fine, Winston. Go with the others…I’ll join you soon,” she croaked, closing her eyes as she waited for Winston to leave. “I just need… I need time.”

She couldn’t tell how long he stood there, waiting, but once she heard him leave, his footsteps unsteady, she opened them.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Bastion, the omnic pulling her into a half-hug. “Will you help me? I just…I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.” The trill from Bastion was answer enough, and Angela sighed. “Will you…will you take—“ she motioned to the gurney with Zenyatta on it, sniffling. “I can’t push them both.”

* * *

By the time Angela joined the others in the central room, several of the others were asleep. Lena was passed out, curled up next to Winston on the floor, surrounded by a sea of tissues. Lúcio had, at some point, been lead over to the nearest sink and been wiped down by someone and was wearing one of Hana’s hoodies, nestled up between Hanzo and Mei. Ana was still awake, and she motioned Angela over, through the sea of slumbering and grieving bodies.

“How are you, dear?” she whispered, her voice gravely from crying.

Angela only shook her head, her shoulders starting to quake again, and she stepped around the others to join Ana on the couch. It didn’t take long for the doctor to fold in on herself, and Ana wrapped her arms around her.

“Blunt force trauma, for Zenyatta. Blood loss, for Jack,” Angela whispered, digging her nails into her arms. “If I’d gone with them on the mission maybe I could have saved them both. If only—“

“It’s not your fault, Angie. It isn’t any of our faults.” Fareeha croaked, reaching up to rub her back from her spot on the floor. “None of us knew that this would happen…whatever it was that did happen.”

That made Angela look up. “They haven’t--? No, no that makes sense…” she muttered, before letting Ana pull her close again. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save him.”

“It’s okay, Angela. It’ll be okay.”

* * *

The mission briefing happened the next day, not long after everyone awoke in the central room. It was as informal as it got, all of them huddled around as they each told their account of what happened.

“We—we got out to do our look at the waypoint. It was…it was in a bad shape—graffiti and all that,” Mei said, trying to keep her voice steady and mostly failing. “Zenyatta and 76—Jack…they went just outside to see if they should see where people were getting in, and—“

She ducked her head, sniffling into a tissue, and Jamison took over. 

“Me an’ Lúcio went into the waypoint while the rest of them were outside, checkin’ to see if I needed to bust open some doors when I heard 76 on the comms. By the time I got out, everything was said and done.” He motioned to the others, at a loss for words.

“I was outside, with the others, when I heard Soldier 76. I—Lúcio rushed out of the waypoint and I followed. There was a small crowd just outside the fenced off area, and we—Lúcio sent them away with—“ Satya motioned to the silent man, before shaking her head. “We were too late.”

It took Lúcio some time to fill in any remaining gaps, the young man trying, and failing, to hold his composure, not that anyone really blamed him. 

“Me and Jamie were in the point when 76 called for assistance, that Zenyatta had been attacked before he went silent. So I rushed out—Mei was calling Lena I think, and…I don’t even remember you coming with me, Satya.” He took a deep breath, and Satya reached over to squeeze his hand. “There—It was a mob. I don’t know…there could have been an anti-omnic group in the area, maybe, and they just…I pushed them away, but Zen—him and 76 were on the ground and I don’t—I couldn’t help Zen. I didn’t know what to do!”

Lúcio started to cry again, angry, bitter tears before almost melting against Genji when he grabbed him in a tight hug.

“Then 76 bled out, and—“ he took a shaky breath. “It’s my fault that they died, isn’t it.”

“It isn’t, Lúcio. If anything I—I didn’t look into the area further, I didn’t know that there was a violent group in the area. If anything, I’m to blame,” Winston said, sounding close to tears again. “Lena, you said Emily’s coming, right? And Jesse—you told Miss Oladele and Orisa not to fly in at all this month, right?”

Lena and Jesse only nodded, leaving Torbjörn to provide a more in depth answer.

“Brigitte is picking her up in London, then the pair of them are coming to the rock. Efi and Orisa wanted to know if they could do anything, but we told them that staying home and safe was the better option. Ursula is coming too, to help with the—the preparations. She just needs to get the children to her aunts.”

That made everyone pause—Bodies meant funerals.

“I—Hanzo and I will be taking Master back to Nepal. I haven’t had a chance to inform the Shambali, though. Winston, could you?” Genji asked quietly, and Winston nodded.

“I can do that. Do we—does anyone know about J-Jack?” The name almost seemed to stick in his throat, and he frowned around it. 

“The rock—There’s a space around the back of the watchpoint where…We can burry him there.” It was the first thing Ana had said all morning, and it was almost a shock to hear her speak. “It’s…not like we can go to the UN and say that we have a body to go in the casket they buried empty. Jack Morrison has already had a funeral—this one is for Soldier 76.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I said this was going to be 3 chapters only buuuuut it might turn into 4 tbh. Aren't you guys lucky! An entire extra chapter on this angst fic!
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [Overwatch Tumblr](http://over-swatch.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Overwatch Tumblr](http://textsfromwatchpointgibraltar.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> HI THERE I HATE JOY AND LOVE PAIN AND I LIKE TO DESTROY MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS
> 
> tbh tho this just was because I wanted to write Angst and couldn't pick who to kill. And somehow it's going to be at least 2 chapters, maybe 3
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Personal Tumblr](http://happyleech.tumblr.com/) / [Overwatch Tumblr](http://over-swatch.tumblr.com/) / [TextsFromLastNight Overwatch Tumblr](http://textsfromwatchpointgibraltar.tumblr.com/)


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